Recently, cognitive serious games have successfully been employed to train cognitive abilities in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and related disorders. However, despite the continuous rehabilitation game design and its applications, the existing cognitive exercise games fall short of user interaction and personalized elements with regard to difficult levels, which leads to users leaving early and losing interests during the gameplay. In this regard, the purpose of the study was to design and develop the serious game inclusive of playful elements for user motivation, the web‐based mobile application system for easy accessibility, and Artificial Intelligence– (AI–) based difficulty level adjustment system for prevention from earlier leaving out in the middle of the play so that the elderly users can feel entertaining and immersed into the cognitive game voluntarily. This study was designed as an eight‐week pilot experiment with thirty‐seven participants in their 60s to 80s for the game’s usability assessment purpose. Results of the study showed that the AI‐based cognitive exercise game was acceptable, interesting, and motivating for the elderly people and the test results before and after the eight‐week training suggest a relationship between longer the training on the game and lower cognitive assessment scores including geriatric quality of life scale, geriatric depression scale, and Korean version of mini‐mental state examination (MMSE). These correlations demonstrate the potential value of serious games in clinical assessment of cognitive status for the elderly users with varying cognitive ability. Based on these results, the elderly‐centered serious game with playful element can be potentially used in clinical settings, allowing the cognitive training to be more enjoyable and more medically effective. Given these promising results, a more focused study can extend to the game system or additional game tools or features to be explored that solely target the elderly by applying AI and advanced visualization devices.

In recent years, the emergence of digital therapeutics as a novel approach to managing conditions has garnered significant attention. This approach involves using evidence-based therapeutic interventions that are facilitated by high-quality software programs to treat, manage, or prevent medical conditions. The incorporation of digital therapeutics into the Metaverse has increased the feasibility of their implementation and application in all areas of medical services. In urology, substantial digital therapeutics are being produced and researched, including mobile apps, bladder devices, pelvic floor muscle trainers, smart toilet systems, mixed reality-guided training and surgery, and training and telemedicine for urological consultations. The purpose of this review article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current impact of the Metaverse on the field of digital therapeutics and identify its current trends, applications, and future perspectives in the field of urology.

It is presently being questioned whether the metaverse is mere hype or the next transformative vision. It should be examined how the issues associated with the metaverse are being dealt with socially, and accordingly, how the public’s interest has changed. This paper aims to explore the metaverse’s issues and its rapidly changing trends in South Korea during the pandemic period of 2020–2021, in which the term was very widely used. This study conducted a semantic network analysis using online news big data with a text mining approach to analyze online news content from search engine portals such as Naver, Daum, and Google. TF-IDF, degree centrality, word cloud visualization, and CONCOR analysis were used within the Textom and UCINET6 programs. This research provides valuable insights into how the metaverse is being embraced and discussed within the South Korean context, shedding light on its potential impact and the changing dynamics of public engagement. The results showed that the topics of the public’s interests in the metaverse varied in the year 2021 as compared to 2020, and the opportunities and concerns revolving around it are referred to at the same time. The study found that there were significant changes in the subjects that gained public interest in the metaverse between 2020 and 2021. In 2020, the term “Metaverse” became popular in the news due to its increasing popularity in the world of virtual online gaming, particularly among younger populations. This was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, resulting in a rise in virtual experiences. In contrast, the year 2021 was marked as the time when the concept of the metaverse gained widespread recognition and established itself as a platform for business and financial opportunities, suggesting the growing interest of older generations in the metaverse.

The metaverse, a 3-dimensional digital platform that enables users to interact and engage in realistic virtual activities beyond time and space limitations, has garnered significant investment across industries, particularly in healthcare. In the medical field, the metaverse shows promise as a digital therapeutic platform to enhance interaction between medical professionals and patients. Concurrently, generative artificial intelligence, especially large language models, is being integrated into healthcare for applications in data analysis, image recognition, and natural language processing. In urology, large language models (LLMs) support are increasingly used in urology for tasks such as image diagnosis, data processing, patient education, and treatment assistance in order to provide significant support in clinical settings. By combining LLMs with the immersive capabilities of the metaverse, new possibilities emerge to improve urologic treatment in areas that require consistent treatments, habit formation, and long-term management. This paper reviews current research and applications of LLMs in urology, discusses the challenges associated with their use including data quality, bias, security, and ethical issues, and explores the need for regulatory standards. Furthermore, it highlights the potential of a metaverse-based digital platform to improve urologic care and streamline information exchange to maximize the benefits of this integrated approach in future healthcare applications.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medical imaging has notably expanded its significance within urology. AI applications offer a broad spectrum of utilities in this domain, ranging from precise diagnosis achieved through image segmentation and anomaly detection to improved procedural assistance in biopsies and surgical interventions. Although challenges persist concerning data security, transparency, and integration into existing clinical workflows, extensive research has been conducted on AI-assisted imaging technologies while recognizing their potential to reshape urological practices. This review paper outlines current AI techniques employed for image analysis to offer an overview of the latest technological trends and applications in the field of urology.